Hello moms,
My husband was diagnosed in August with Hodgkin's lymphoma. We were told it was a "curable cancer" and everything would go smoothly. Well that is not the case. It appears his cancer has become resistant to his current chemo. After realizing how expensive it is to treat cancer, especially when you have to change treatments, we formed The Barrager Foundation. It is a foundation to raise donations for his treatment (costs of treatment, missed work, etc.) and to help other cancer patients too (i.e. providing food at infusion centers, helping with co-pays, etc). Here is where I need your help: I have no idea how to get people involved! I have posted the info on my facebook page, have emailed it to friends and asked them to pass it on etc but no body is doing it. Our website gets maybe 20 views a day but in the past month we have received only 2 small donations. What am I doing wrong? How can I get this foundation to take off and succeed? Here is the website thebarragerfoundation.com so you guys can look at it and tell me if I should change anything and how I can get it to spread. Thanks for your help as I am completely lost!
Maybe email the founder of Hero's for Children. She is the same charity only for children.
Have you tried speaking with somebody from the Amercan Cancer Society with regard to ideas that they might have. I would also see if you could get some ideas from Komen foundation, the large foundation here in Dallas for Breast Cancer. It seems that they would have some idea that they could give you to get this off the ground.
Another idea to spread the word would be to host a fundraiser. Gather some friends together and see if they would help you host a dinner at a local church or town hall. Ask for donations of food from local restaurants or significantly reduced costs. Sell tickets, get door prize or silent auction items donated. Ask all of your friends to sponsor a table and to bring others to the event. You should be able to make some money from the dinner and it will give you a wider base of people who might be interested in helping with your cause. If you have a church family home, check and see if they have a matching fund through any church bodies or organizations.
Make sure you have a tax exempt status and a 501c3 number that indicates that status. good luck with your efforts and we send our prayers for healing for your husband.
Cancer is a hideous disease. We have a little sister now 30 who was diagnosed at age 24 with Cancer. The cost even with insurance is huge. We started an account at the bank for her and for 2 yrs nothing...it is not non profit. However, with constant mentioning on caring bridge and to family members and friends we now have an active account that raised 6K this past year to offset costs for medical. We did create a budget showing her out of pocket expenses and needs and sent that to everyone after the first two years and that got things going. Writing a personal story on your blog that helps people relate more to who your husband is will help people identify with him. Right now the site is informative but stiff. Also is you are non profit post a copy of that information maybe even scan in a copy of the form so people know it is real & can use receipts for right off's. Have a page that show's the cost being dealt with in an organized budget form & describe what percentage of your donations go to your husband & what percentage will be used for others so people can get a feel for how they are making a difference.
We also late this year started a seperate linked account for a travel fund. There are two trips our family member wants to take and being stage IV you don't know how much time you have left. The doc said go ahead & plan a trip before the end of this year. There were so many people that didn't want to just donate for medical - go figure - but wanted to donate to give her some joy.
We have found the key is sticking with it. It's not fast and there are so many bigger foundations that draw support. If you have a local paper see if they will do a story on your husband. We've had 4 articles written....not focusing on donating (we have the info included) but focusing on awareness, how she continues to focus on the positive, work, stay involved in other charities (big bro's big sisters was something she had done for years)etc...Making her life personal and meaningful to others.
I hope this helps and good luck to you & your hubby.
The most successful not for profit/fundraising sites that I've seen have developed their following by commenting and activing visiting others sites. They get their visitors involved with the story- i.e. blog/journal entries from your husband, guest writers (those you would be helping at the infusion centers, etc). Those guest writers then promote that they wrote somewhere, driving more people to your site.
When I think of most of the sites that I've ended up contributing to, I first found the site because the owner commented on my site.
In addition to the above, if you've started a foundation, I'm assuming that you have your 501c3 status already? If not, most people aren't going to trust that their money is going to what you say it is. Also, If you don't yet have your 501c3, people can't tax deduct their donation like they could if they donated to say, the American Cancer Society.
Hope this ramble helps.
